Tranmere 1 Swindon 4

This was our 125th anniversary game but it turned in to a very sad day.

HMS Illustrious 2009 @ Liverpool

Don't Expect a Trial

It is not so extraordinary that Nick Griffin has sought to link military generals with Nuremberg hangings. This is all part of the BNP tactic of gainsaying opponents with the Fascist motif; the political equivalent of those playground philosophical discourses that ended when someone said 'No, YOU stink! No comebacks.'

Hopefully, the public will see through this particular outburst and see Griffin for the ideological deceiver he is. Whether Question Time provides an opportunity to hold him to account is another matter. The format of the show does not allow for such grillings and only the cognoscenti are likely to watch. It will be interesting to see how the media reports the highlights. It was often suggested that David Beckham was ideally suited to US soccer due to the heavy reliance on big moments rather than the niceties of the game itself. Griffin will, similarly, be able to offer scraps for the soundbite-orientated media.

Today's eye-opener as to the mindset of Griffin et al on matters judicial comes courtesy of referring to Peter Hain as a bank robber in its latest email/begging letter to party faithful not put off by a potential further leak of membership details. Moreover the email is headlined, ' Former Bank Robber accuses BNP of breaking the law'.

For those not aware of the story upon which the BNP affixes its libellous statement, Hain was a leading member of the anti-apartheid movement and in 1975 was charged with being part of a raid on a Barclays Bank, stealing nearly £500 (even in 1975 not on the Ronnie Biggs level).

Hain was acquitted by a jury. As The Times explains in an article in 2007, there are allegations that Hain was fitted up by dark forces due to his extra-parliamentary activities.

• In this fervid atmosphere, the police behaved in a way that would get the case thrown out now.

  First, they put Hain in an identification parade after “Hain on theft charge” headlines had appeared, and even after the London Evening Standard had printed his photograph with the caption: “Peter Hain — due to appear in an identification parade today”.

  (The bank cashier who had handed over the £490 duly identified him as the robber.)

  Secondly, two senior officers repeatedly went at night to the home of Terry MacLaren, one of the schoolboys who had chased the robber. MacLaren did not think Hain was the thief and had agreed to testify for the defence. The apparent purpose of the police was to see him without Hain’s lawyer being present. MacLaren’s father sent them packing.

In addition, there was the belief that the South African security services were involved:

• Whether this was true or not, Hain’s lawyers decided they could not introduce it into their defence because it could not be proved and would be more likely to muddy what was a clear defence of mistaken identity.

Whether the consipiracy theory has any veracity is not relevant; the fact is, Hain was found NOT Guilty.

Griffin urges followers to - after they've given some more urgent funds - to download a form to serve on Hain, who claims the BBC should not be inviting the BNP on to QT because it is (currently) illegal due to its constitutional limbo. I don't actually buy this but anyhow, Griffin bellows:

• Lawyers acting for the BNP have drawn up a legal "notice of interested party status" letter, which supporters can download and send to Mr Hain directly. A notice of interested party status letter can be sent by any person who can prove a legal interest in the matter. This automatically includes all BNP members and voters. This letter will oblige Mr Hain to include the sender of that letter a full copy of any legal action which he might institute against the BBC.

Evidently in a Griffin-led system of justice, trial by jury will be unnecessary. If Hain is looking for legal action, a further writ against Griffin for defamation should be considered, if only to make the squeaky-voiced bigot squirm and have to go cap-in-hand to members for more help.


FOOTNOTE:

As I was out most of yesterday I didn't relise that Lancaster Unity had covered this first and that there is now a second email hastily changing the headline to 'suspect'. The implication is still there notwithstanding the alteration. Clearly in Griffin's judicial system you remain under suspicion 30+ years after an acquittal. On another note, the BNP refers to 1974 when the court case was in 1976 with the alleged offence the preceding year.

Scurrilous and potentially defamatory remarks are the stock-in-trade of our friends over at Mersey Nationalists (formerly Mersey BNP). In a typical attack today they state:

• While it is likely that a minority of the Labour Party are law abiding members of society, no responsibility can be taken on this site for the majority of the Labour Party that goes for the Conservatives as well who are out and out Nazi Fascists!

This ties in with my point about trying to turn the tables on opponents. The same article has pictures of various Labour politicians and army officials with Hitler moustaches drawn on. Clearly further evidence of the playground mentality of these half-wits.

Back Of The T'internet

I don't know what I'm most proud of, having a comment kicking lazy journo Richard Littlejohn over that cooking fat story which he regurgitated or being next to the great Sid Noggett.

QM2 in Liverpool: October 2009

Will post further pics later. It was a bitterly cold day on the Mersey as the largest passenger liner, the Queen Mary 2 arrived in her spiritual home for the first time. The ship is on a tour of the British Isles. As the QM2 departed there was a brief fireworks display. I managed to arrive just as it was ending and with no time to put up the tripod!

Cat Litter

As I've mentioned before (many times - as Lord Denning would say) the odious BNP and the loathsome Daily Mail have a very strange and symbiotic relationship.

As the boy Anton pointed out the other day, Melanie Phillips has another attempt at distancing herself from the party despite her constant Londonistan bile which would not be out of place on official BNP literature. Perhaps they'd let her be their second Jewish member now that Herr Griffin is about to open the borders.

Today's example comes courtesy of a cute, furry creature (no, I'm not talking about Beckham's latest style) whose name may well be Eric, Eric The Cat.

According to The Daily Moir, this cat was the reason that a Bolivian immigrant was allowed to stay in the UK. Of course, with all these 'cor blimey, guv, you can knock me darn with a fevver' stories, there is more to it than that.

As MacGuffin demonstrates, the original story in The Telegraph mentions a couple of salient facts the Mail found no space for.

The Telegraph explains that whilst the cat aspect was taken into consideration 'as one detail of many' in the original decision, upon Appeal the judge declared that it was an error to rely so much on the fact.

• "It was made clear by the initial judge and then by Senior Immigration Judge Gleeson that the appellant should benefit from that policy and be granted the right to remain," he said.

  "Furthermore, it was accepted by the Home Office representative at the hearing before Judge Gleeson that the policy should apply and any other errors in the initial decision by the judge, including too much detail on the cat, were immaterial."

The Mail doesn't tell its readers that and therefore opens up its own floodgates to a tidal wave of spew:

• Come on, let's change the rules a bit.
  If you marry a non british resident you take his or her nationality and move to thier country.
  Simple change in the law, doesn't change your human rights but does stop the convenience marriage.
  After all if you don't want to live where vyour partner comes from then perhaps you are making a mistake,

  - Johnrs65, Norfolk, 19/10/2009 7:

• And politicians wonder why there is so much support for the BNP!

  - Sara, Sydney, Australia, 19/10/2009 3:04

  I sometimes think that I should give up my British citizenship and then immediately claim asylum, what a wonderful life I'd have if I did; everything I want on a big fat silver plate without lifting a finger for it! Better make sure I buy a cat first though, just in case!!!
  
  - Mike, London, 19/10/2009 3:00
  
  I will vote for anyone who gets rid of the illegal immigrants
  
  - Eileen, Notts . G.B. ( or was once ),
  

It is noticeable that not only are the commenters largely aghast at the inaccurate story, they also show that they don't like immigrants at all. In the Mail story the man is also referred to as an illegal immigrant just to press the matter home.

Eileen's comment sets us thinking. Who could she mean? Over to another version of the story (complete with picture of another cat who has obviously signed up with Max Clifford for an exclusive in Pussy Monthly [waits for inappropriate googlers to arrive]):

BOLIVIAN INVADER ALLOWED TO STAY IN BRITAIN - BECAUSE HE HAS A CAT

• * An invader from far off Bolivia has won an appeal against deportation from Britain because he has a “settled family life” here

• *The decision is one more example of how Britain has become the dumping ground for the world’s scroungers — all courtesy of a corrupt system put in place under decades of Labour and Tory rule.The quotes and headline are, of course, from the BNP official site. The BNP has decided - because it does not know the unnamed person from Bolivia - that he is a scrounger. Interestingly the BNP borrows from the Telegraph article in referring to other cases, but like The Mail, chooses not to emphasise the facts when reporting it.

The story also surfaced in The Sun and Irish independent who both ensured more publicity for rentaquote Migrationwatch buffoon, Andrew Green, who, did not warrant a mention in the BNP propaganda.

There was an interesting discussion on Black History month in the Radio Merseyside studios earlier. If ever it needed punching home why we need such a venture then a listen to the articulate voices here on BBCi player, together with the cat story and the racism found in Bristol by the BBC's Panorama should answer that.

Original hat-tip via Twitter to Duncan Stott.

UPDATE

Tabloid Watch has further points to make now that the lie has been repeated by Richard Littlejohn and the lawyer involved may have got in contact.

In another example of the Mail's odd relationship with the BNP, we see Littlejohn referring to Nick Griffin as 'unsavoury'. Yet he still claims the cat was the real reason the man was allowed to stay and then proudly announces:

• Sir Andrew Green, from Migrationwatch, said: 'I despair. This is symptomatic of the attitude held by many members of the judiciary, in complete disregard for the impact of such decisions on the future of our community.

  'Drawing pets into the consideration of such important issues is so utterly absurd that you could not make it up.'

  That could have been me speaking.

Letz Zep @ Liverpool's The Cavern

EDL Mosque Bashing

Despite claims by the EDL that they are not anti-Islam, just against extremism, the evidence continues to fly in. As we witnessed in Manchester there were anti-Muslim slogans and posters with 'No More Mosques'.

EDL members (in conjunction with members of the party they are supposed to be distinct from) have set up a Facebook protest about a proposed Islamic centre in Weston-super-mare. The planning application aims to convert a former working men's club (possibly a British Legion) into a community and education centre. That the function would also include prayers means that the EDL is able to do a little conversion of its own.

The Facebook group 'No to the new Mosque in Weston Super Mare' sets the tone for the campaign. Notwithstanding that the majority of its 900 plus group have no connection with the area, they are urged to protest.

In order to set the scene the group helpfully posts a picture of a large (and somewhat breathtaking) mosque. [An Eric The Fish badge for anyone who can identify which country it's in - I tried Tineye but couldn't locate it].

Now, having seen the plans online - and not to take anything away from architect M.J. Harding - I don't think the former Wheeltappers and Shunters place is going to turn into the Brighton Pavillion (did I mention that Tranny beat Brighton 2-1 today? That tumbleweed drifting past is for our Fascist friend's silence).

The group outlines its intentions:

• At present we are not aware of any mosques in weston super mare in somerset.
  The are major flaws in this application as it has been described as being for muslim children, If it was for muslim children then why does it require 24 hour access? We believe this is a fasttrack way of building a mosque, Then there will be 2, then 3, and so on.
  This further ads to the islamification of the united kingdom.

Yes, I know the writer of the comment would benefit from some of the centre's educational facilities. There's more.

• Because of recent comments in the Weston Murcury, where members of this group were called racist for having their say. We would ask all group members to watch what they write, ( NO RACIST COMMENTS PLEASE ) By all means have you're say.

Ooh, what's that? The Weston Mercury explains.

• But some of the 440 members have written threatening comments in the internet forum.
  
  One post said: "Muslims are never gonna take over this country....well at least weston super mare, I swear on my life if they built this new mosque in weston I will set fire 2 it and thats a f***in promis."
  
  Other comments say that all Muslims are terrorists and one aggressive member threatens to drive a bus into the centre and blow it up if it is given planning permission.
  
  The disturbing comments have also been sent to planning officers at North Somerset Council

I see. So the comments were on the group not just made up by the paper and that's why members are reminded to try not to be racist. You've got to admire the person who thought the way to defeat terrorism was by driving a bus bomb!

Not that deleting previous posts has had much success. One of the founders of the group, John Sheridan shows his loose grip on historical knowledge:

• John Sheridan Edl wrote
  at 11:24 on 12 October 2009
  Omar, not all muslims are terrorists, But all terrorists are muslims FACT, That is enough, Thats all we need to be afraid.

When Nick Thorne of bristol suggests urinating in the centre, group admin Dennis Raines wades in with his DMs:

• 
  Dennis R Raines wrote
  at 22:56 on 11 October 2009
  I Look forward to leaving a little present on their doorstep, just hope i have something to wipe my arse with.

Fellow racist Nick bites back with:

• do you know what,i aint racist at all,anyone who knows me will know that half of the people i mix with are not "white english"

I can feel a but coming on

• but

We're getting all Points of View now. Anyway, he continues his erudition:

• im sick of this now...THIS IS MY COUNTRY,ENGLAND,IF YOU WANNA LIVE HERE THEN YOU DO IT THE ENGLISH WAY....FUCK MUSLIMS,FUCK MOSQUES,FUCK TURBANS,FUCK ROMANIANS,FUCK POLISH...ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FUCKING TERRORIST WARS,FUCK OFF AND KILL EACH OTHER AND DO US ALL A FUCKING FAVOUR....WE HATE YOU,GO AWAY AND LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE...IF YOU DONT,THEN SOON SUMMUT BAD IS GONNA HAPPEN COS THE ENGLISH ARE GETTING REAAL PISSED OFF...GO TAKE YOUR FUCKING MOSQUES AND THE REST OF YOUR DIRTY SHITE AND TAKE IT BACK TO YOUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY......WHERE THERE ARE ALREADY FUCKING MOSQUES!!!!!

Stop SHOUTING, you moron! then there's the genuine international security expert:

• don't let this happen there is an airport not far away remember.

That last startling comment was from Ron Bennett. In his picture he's clearly pointing out how much of a plantpot he is. As Ron knows all terrorists set up plans right near to the place they intend to target.

Among the other topics for discussion is a plea to boycott all Muslim businesses posted by Mr. Raines himself. So no way is the EDL anti-Muslim. Oh no.

As we saw at the demo in Manchester there was a larghe number of neo-Nazis in the EDL presence. Our friend Liam Pinkham (who should be banned from attending Tranmere games and is a big fan of this blog). Remember that cartoon, Pinky and the Brain? Well, it had a spin-off. Pinky Without The Brain.

Which brings us to the membership of this group.

• Dennis Raines is friends with Scotland BNP organiser Gary Raikes
• Denis Adams, BNP member
  
• Tommy robinson (one of the EDL leaders)
• Dave Oloughlin (who likes to send Nazi insignia to friends and has one of the ugliest webcam pictures ever seen. I think he deserves a post to himself particularly his predeliction to sending Facebook eroticism to someone described as his sibling!)
• Granty Chelsea Headhunter (another football hooligan to keep Robinson company)

There are other interesting members but we'll be here all day. It's a bit disconcerting that there are school pupils on the list too.

The group is also advised to contact the local council to protest. Well, we're all in favour of mass action aren't we? Unfortunately, what the idiots don't realise is that they don't have sufficient standing to oppose the application. Some of the comments are pitiful:

• Would this site not be more benificial aimed at the youth or community in Weston Super Mare.

writes our friend Dennis Raines from Bridgwater, Somerset even though he does not reside there.

• I do not think this development should take place. ADAM JONES, West Midlands

• JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT THEY WILL TAKE OVER SOON! ANON

• Where will the working men now go to socialise? Muslims should stop displacing British people

Now that last comment is interesting as it echoes comments by the BNP about the loss of British pubs due to Ismamification. Nothing to do with the economic situation or the stranglehold the PubCo owners have on the industry.

UPDATE:

As Wales Online finds, the EDL Nazis were out in force in Swansea on Saturday (in the guise of the Welsh Defence League) with Hitler salutes being seen. Their article is here and a photo on Flickr from prusakolep, A History student, is here.

For those who think the comments abour Mosques are just bravado, this BBC story should put matters straight:

• A 53-year-old man has been charged after petrol was thrown at the doorway of a mosque in Wearside.

  The man, from Peterborough, is due before magistrates on Monday charged with attempted arson with intent to endanger life with racial aggravation.

This is a man who seems to have travelled from Cambridgeshire to the Sunderland area. Or had he relocated his racist tendencies?

STORMRONT FASCISTS MAY WISH TO READ THIS. PLEASE ASK AN ADULT TO HELP WITH ANY HARD WORDS.

No Matter What They Say

Jan Moir is almost an anagram of I'm a Journo; the name is also a byword for mixed up hatred and bile.

As many have already commented (and Twitter #janmoir is trending), today's piece by Ms Moir is a clear attempt to take away the limelight from the usual proponents of vile polemic, Littlejohn, Platell, Liz Jones and Mad Mel.

Before Stephen Gateley's body could be flown home, this bitter hack puts poison pen to paper to urinate on the dead as only Mail commenters can. Well, it's not as if they can be sued.

We all know that not all Mail writers die of strokes even if they've lost all feeling, but Jan seems to know what all gay people die of.

I won't go on at length as the story speaks for itself. The headline 'Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gateley's death' is bad enough, hiding as it does behind those inverted commas.

No matter what the medically trained people found, no matter what lack of evidence there is of large-scale drug taking, no matter what facts are missing, these journalists will fill in the details long before the graves have been filled in.

Sing The Praises

In previous posts I've questioned the morality of charities accepting donations from the BNP and other extreme groups. I'm heartrened, therefore, to see that South Oxhey Community Choir has snubbed this particular attempt to hijack good causes.

As we saw with the pitiful 'cardboard box' stunt, all this amounts to is a publicity coup for the BNP as they seek respectability. No matter that there is no way of knowing how much will be paid to the charity or whether they will receive it at all, the party will put this act of altruism on their website. This is the political equivalent of those self-satisfied bank managers parading enormous cheques on Children in Need whilst dressed as a giant cock chicken.

In South Oxhey, councillors are given £1,000 to distribute to good causes.

As the Watford Observer (via Lancaster unity) reports:

• Committee member Russ Clancy told the Watford Observer why the group decided to reject the offer: He said: “Obviously we would really like this money but we discovered that if we took it that our name would be used in BNP literature in the future.

  “We’ve worked really hard as a group to be inclusive of everybody and promote an ethnically diverse choir. We don’t feel the BNP shares those values so, as group, we decided to turn the money down.”

Hallelujah for the way this has been Handeled. (gets coat. Look i'm allowed dreadful puns on a Friday)

Kelway's Nest

Still haven't got round to a finishing a lengthy post on the EDL, which continues to enjoy legitimacy in certain sections of the media (which just happen to be the ones spewing forth ammunition on their behalf such as today's disgraceful Daily Express headline).

In the meantime here's a further snippet from EDL spokesman, Trevor Kelway's mindset. In a post regarding the September Al-Quds march in London he rather gives the game away about his intentions with a little reminder to the troops.

Now, I'm no defender of groups like Al-Quds and some of the Palestine is 100% right; Israel is 100% wrong brigade, but this is another example of what the EDL are really like. On one hand - like the BNP leadership - they court respectability by distancing themselves from the crackpots whilst secretly showing their true colours.

More later. For our Fascist friend from Brighton who clearly has nothing better to do than visit here 5 times a day and then expects me to publish his illiterate mumblings, there'll be more soon depending on Tranmere's result against Brighton on Saturday.

The Unholy Alliance

As long suspected, the self-appointed guardians of the public purse and beloved rentaquote bosom buddies of the Daily Mail and other lazy journalists are not so whiter than white when it comes to digging deep for HM Treasury.

As The Guardian informs us:

• The Taxpayers' Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.

  The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.

The article also covers the relationship between the T.A. and the Tories.

This is an important issue; whenever the TA pronounce this or that to be 'an appalling waste of taxpayers' money', let them be tackled over this. And while we're at it, let's not forget Lord Ashcroft's lack of transparency over his tax status and newspaper barons and companies.

FURTHER READING:

Who Funds The TA? (Guardian 9th Oct)

The Other Taxpayers' Alliance

Potting The Pink

There's been a lot of fun and games with the EDL's arrangements for the protest in Manchester tomorrow. One minute they gave out instructions to their blockhead followers, then they changed it, then they reverted. Mind games that would be better employed in Manchester by Sir Alex.

I will post after Saturday so I will not go into too much detail here. Suffice to say the appropriate bodies have been given appropriate information.

The EDL's spokesman, Trevor Kelway has maintained that the EDL is against extremist Muslims, not Muslims in general. Funny then that he should choose to post a link to the story of Lord Ahmed's dangerous driving conviction on Facebook recently. The former Labour peer was involved in a car crash and was found to have texted minutes before the collision. All well and good but this is a story in The Sun from December 2008 so hardly topical or relevant to the EDL cause. Ahmed may be controversial and have some odd views, but not many rational opponents would accuse him of being on the same plane as the preachers of hate.


The EDL has also tried to distance itself from the BNP and similar Fascist organisations but despite this, they continue to be involved. (There's an interesting debate going on in BNP circles over the potential conspiracy status of the EDL but maybe another time).

Kelway also posted a link to an article on the barking-at-the-moon ramblings of BNP 'lawyer', Lee John Barnes.

One potential attendee at the Manchester shindig is Birkenhead's biggest piece of rat excrement, Liam Pinkham. Skinheaded Pinkham harassed people at a bookshop in Liverpool and was pictured giving a Hitler salute in Blackpool after a BNP meeting. He is a member of the lunatic British Freedom Fighters, a band of plastic paramilitaries who spend most of their time giving Seig Heils in woods and drinking turps.

Pinkham was sentenced to community punishments including attending some kind of racial awareness course. Has this worked? Well, I'll leave Wirral Probation Services to deal with that one. As you can see from his recent Facebook blurts, the course has been very valuable. Hopefully, Mr Pink (insert own Reservoir Dogs joke) will have his collar felt again. He seems to like police station food.

It is sad that this protest was allowed to go ahead and hopefully there will not be widespread trouble. Unfortunately, history shows that this is inevitable. Violent and offensive behaviour from any group is reprehensible (and there are plenty of left wing antagonists).

Where's The Party?

I've been to a few party conferences over the years and even made an unscripted live speech. That was in the days when I thought I was a shoe-in for Prime Minister-in-waiting (although to be truer to my ego, Lord Protector would have been more descriptive).

Party conferences have long been stage-managed and the days when local activists could gain kudos for attacking the leadership in fron to TV cameras have well gone. Contrast Labour's conference of 1985 with Mersey militants shouting at Neil Kinnock during his scuttling taxis speech with the treatment of Walter Wolfgang twenty years later when we witnessed the grotesque chaos of a Labour Party hiring thigs to throw out an Octogenarian Holocaust survivor.

There is of course some semblance of democracy at such functions with local parties and affiliates able to propose motions (or the industrially prosaic Composites of Old Labourspeak) for debate. It was always abit of a fallacy as any victory by the left was ususlly a pyrrhic one as the ledaership could circumvent decisions in the future. This is why my resolution never made it (in full) to any amnifsto though I've haerd that The Monster raving loony party is giving it serious consideration.

Often the most exciting aspects of the gathering was the fringe meetings and concerts; Tony Benn on the chartists On Tuesday; Billy Bragg on the Levellers the next night. They were days of opposition when none of us knew where the next Buggins was coming from. In the coming months, L\bour may have to return to those dark days. The question will be, what has it learned from the past. Can it realistically group as a radical alternative or weill the clamour be for another nice-but-electable leadership to keep the left in its place.

At that conference in 1985, Neil Kinnock also said that there was no use in having principles without power. Arthur Scargill retorted with power being useless without principles. Both were, in their own ways, correct. the trick is to marry both.

On a more laughable note the Odious BNP will be holding its conference in the North-West in November. Griffin explains, "details will be released nearer the time the rough location and cost". They haven't even decided where it is to be held yet which makes a mockery of their claim to be a serious party. Also, this has a potential for security headaches. Given the trouble which is always attracted by these events, it is reprehensible that police and council have insufficient time to plan.

Maybe the details will be released on Facebook with the inevitable motley crew of gate crashers attending and trashing the place like those middle class teenage parties so beloved of the Daily Mail. Actually, this isn't so far fetched given the BNP's love of social network sites these days. as a forthcoming update on the EDL will show, this an effective channel for these purveyors of hate to organise.

BNP members and supporters have been inundated with appeals for donations in the past few months; some for spurious legal battles. others for life membership scams. So, it's interesting to see that in order for members to have an effective say on policy (ho ho ho), they have to satisfy criteria:

• This year's BNP National Conference will be held in the north of England on the weekend of 13th to 15th November. It is open to Voting Members only. 1) A Voting Member is an ordinary current member who meets all the following criteria:

  (a) A Voting Member must hold two years continuous current membership i.e. 24 months.
  (b) A Voting Member must have attended the required number of training events within the current year.
  (c) A Voting Member must be a recognised activist as verified by their Regional Organiser. This includes as a matter of course, councillors and other elected members, branch organisers, fund holders and regional officers.
  (d) A Voting Members must make a financial contribution, as defined each year. Councillors, branch organisers, fund holders and regional officers are exempt.

I particularly like the fact that 2 years is explained to the flock as 24 months. Look at the other vague hoops members have to jump through. A recognised activist verified by a regional officer. I'd imagine the kerfuffle if this happened in other parties. They may have tried to stifle debate and parachute the odd candidate in but to have a monetary contribution qualification is beyond belief. again, the details are woolly. Yet branch organizers are exempt. This is a fascinating insight into the pecking order of the BNP hierarchical system. Yet as they are constantly telling us, they ate the only truly democratic outfit.

Another Dog's Dinner From Littlejohn

After Littlejohn's lazy piece of journalism over a Times birth announcement made him look like a prize gherkin, another one comes along to take its place.

Richard - from his gated manor in Florida has his finger on the pulse again - by picking up on the story (covered here in The Telegraph) of Devon and Cornwall Police recruiting spaniels as rescue dogs. Littlejohn mocks with the payoff:

• The increasingly absurd Devon and Cornwall force has started replacing their German shepherds with springer spaniels, which are said to be 'less frightening'.

Of course there is more to it than that. As The Telegraph makes clear:

• The force dog inspector added: "Our existing general purpose dogs are fantastic at what they do but vulnerable people are often scared when confronted by a German shepherd dog.

  "These lost person search dogs have no other skills and are pure specialists in finding people who are lost."

Littlejohn may be too lazy to do research, but what is more likely is that he knows most of his audience is made up of sycophantic rodents who would believe the moon was made of cheese.

As with some of Littlejohn's neighbours, they truly reside in a Mickey Mouse world.


UPDATE: The boy Johnny @ No Sleep Til Brooklands was there first with this one. So, just pretend you read it here before you went over there for fuller details.

Rattle Snakes

The English Defence League aims to hold a display of bigotry on 10th October in Manchester City Centre. Given the appalling incidents in Birmingham a few weeks back, one wonders why this is being allowed to go ahead. Protest letters have already been sent but the police and politicians appear to be playing pass the buck.

As I've mentioned before, the EDL tries to maintain that it is merely against Islamic extremism and that it has no links with the BNP, football hooliganism or other right-wing extremism. The evidence to the contrary is clear to see.

I covered EDL spokesman, Trevor Kelway in an earlier post when we saw his online links to those groups. I also touched upon the new tactic of these groups to canvass respectable causes to ally themselves with legitimate groups. As has been seen by the BNP's crude attempt to align itself with the Royal British Legion through percentage fundraising, this is merely a propaganda exercise; rattling a tin for charity whilst pocketing the majority of the money themselves. The RBL seems to finding that out to its cost, as it has not received the donation in question.

As Lancaster Unity points out:

• As it happens, even though Firth's little stunt took place way back in August, the RBL still hasn't had its donation and according to Third Sector (the UK’s leading publication for everyone who needs to know what’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector), the RBL is now seriously considering whether to reject it even if it is (finally) offered, on the grounds that the party has used it to make political capital.

The EDL has latched on to the Help For Heroes charity which raises money for injured servicemen. EDL was selling T-shirts on eBay with 10% supposedly going to H4H. whether this has happened is anyone's guess. How is the charity able to ascertain how many items have been sold?

Now, comes further evidence of the sinister nature of the group. Previously the EDL had referred members to a hooligan store selling face masks for use at the demo. On eBay, the group is now selling an EDL Hoodie Burka (sic). This is a charity listing with 10% again reputedly going to the H4H. The garment retails at £17 (with an extra £13 for postage - where's it coming from: Honduras?).

Charities should be aware that eBay sellers are able to obtain perks by holding such a listing. Perks include reduced listing fees and increased visibility.

Kelway has some other interesting comrades. One Sidney Martin has a Nazi insignia avatar (what is it with these nutters?). A quick glance at his friends sees Gary Raikes (Scottish BNP organizer and no stranger to charitable propaganda), Mark Collett (BBC 'youth BNP rep') and Liverpool BNP. There's also an appearance from Kenny Cooke (of more at a later time).

The challenge goes out to the authorities to ban this parade of hate and to charities to have the courage to distance themselves from dirty money.